Improved life-preserving vests



l UNITED STATESY PATENT OFFICE.-

'l`. A. BELANG, OF NEW YORK, N.'Y.

IMPROVED LIFE-PRESERVING VESTS.

Specification forming part of LettersPatent No. 22,021, dated November 9, 1858.

.T0 all whom it may conoeri: l E v13e it known that L 'lHoMAs A. DELANO, of the city, county, and State f ot N ew York,

' f have invented a new and useful Improvement in Life-Preserving Vests forthe'Prevention of Drowning; and I do hereby declare .that

' Fig is a view exhibiting the same in the 'condition in which it' is worn when there is any risk 'of the wearer beingl precipitated into the water. Fig. exhibits the ai r-inated float of the vest spread out.

Similar letters of reference indicatecorrespending parts in the several figures.

` This invention relates tovests that are suitable for ordinary wear, but furnished between the exterior and the lining with la ioat` of india-rubber or other iexible material that can be inflated at pleasure in a few moments without the removal of the vestfrom the person. f,

The drawings representthe application of `the invention to a mans vest only; but by the term vest employed in this specification l mean to include all close-titting gar ments of similar character-z'. e., fittingtot the upper part ot the body and fastening-fin frOnt-Whether lworn by nieu' or women. The" 'vest may be ot any fashion to suit the taste.

A is the inflatable Iioat,` whose form is shown in Fig. et, and :the manner of applying it `within the vest between the exterior-'and lining thereof isshown in Fig. l in dotted'outline. vThis float is made with a pap a, which can be tucked into the vest or drawn out-to a suitable position for the wearer to apply the mout-h to its screw-valve 1nouth-piece b to infiate the iioat. l

c c are the buttons, and rl d the buttonholes, of the Vest, both arranged 1n the usual manner and used to fasten the vest when it is worn with the iioat A uniniated, as shown in Fig. 2. y

e care the elastic straps which constitute my invention, attached to the button-hole iside ot the vest at the back of the buttonward.

holes, one opposite each buttonfhole, or every onebut the bottom one, and gradually increasing in lengthfrom the bottom one up- These straps are furnished 4with button-,holes g g, Which,when the button-holes d d. are unfastened can be secured to the buttous@ c, and they enlarge the vest sufficientiy the oat is inflated they confine 'the vest snugly around the body; but at the same time by their elasticity prevent any painful pressure of thenner side of the inflated float (which by inliation assumes a rounded form) upon the chest of the wearer as the latter is expanded by the dilation of the lungs.

The straps e e may be buttoued tothe buttons c c at all times, and the button-holes d d buttoned over them when the vest is worn on ordinary occasions, the middle portions of the," Vstraps beingtin that case tucked insidethe vest out of sight, and all that would be necessary to prepare 'the vest for inflation wculd be 'to unbut/t'on the button-holes ,d d. it. is more convenient, however, to have a set ot buttons ff inside the" vest to which to button the holes g g of the straps by turning the straps back within the vest, as shown in Fig. 2, when the button-holes (Z. dl are used. In the latter method of arranging the straps when it is necessary to in tiate the oat after 4unbuttoning the holes d d, theholes g g will 4require to be unbuttoned from the buttons ff and buttoned onto c c.

.It will be observed that the loatA extends for Straps Aeveand an iniatable air-chamber or Iioat -A extending from the.' breasts under-- heaththe armlioles, as herein shown and described.

E T. Al DELANO. fitnessesz i W. Tesori, g R. II. CRossiNGHAM.

Thus an A 

